Participation and the Digital Divide

What is the digital divide? Firstly, to understand what this means, I’ve decided to define the term in order to understand it on a deeper level. As mentioned on (Dictionary) digital divide is the difference between privileged and underprivileged people in relation to access of anything digital

Now that I’ve gathered some understanding of what the digital divide means, I’d like to talk about how this relates to us on a societal level. Who is affected most by this digital divide? In an article written by (Bentley 2014) it’s stated that people on a fixed income may have trouble connecting to the internet. This is leading to a divide within the digital community.

As a single mother, I myself have found it troublesome trying to connect to the internet for lack of funds. Duquaine-Watson (2006,569) mentions this in her research. It is noted that 5 out of 6 women in the USA either don’t own an incredibly outdated computer that can’t run the appropriate programs or don’t own one at all. Laptops and computers are considered a ‘luxury’ to single mothers.

By empowering and providing platforms to help individuals become less margianalised.
Through funding and raising awareness, philanthropic organisations are trying to bridge the gap. One example of this is CAPRA, it has been claimed by (Duquaine-Watson 2006, 570) that once Texas Woman’s Universtity in Denton found out about this problem, the solution was to help mothers who didn’t have computers readily available, by giving them spare ones from the university itself.

Although this is just one example, there are many more. Here are some organisations actively helping to bridge the digital divide.